Last night, Rick Santorum spoke to an audience of Iowa voters saying the economy, growth and taxes all matter, but you can have none of that without strong families. My liberal local daily newspaper had a front-page article about the income gap between Whites and everyone else. The focus was the poor economic condition of Blacks and it is an enduring drone in this newspaper. After quoting Tulsa’s YWCA DIRECTOR OF RACIAL JUSTICE, repeating what we already know, there is an “historic” lack of access to income opportunities, and blaming Whites for poor schools in Black areas, we find close to the end of the article, buried on page 4, this quote from the Black pastor of Greater Grace Temple, Donald O’Neil Tyler:

Dr. Donald O'Neil Tyler

Meanwhile, a north Tulsa minister said increasing both the family and education bases are the biggest issues contributing to the income gap.

“So family and education go hand in hand,” Tyler said. “If you can bring both of those to a higher level of excellence, you could increase our earning power.”

After all the chat about inequities, Pastor Tyler, the man who has the undeniable solution, is written off as an after thought.

We ceaselessly talk about the “inequities,” and spend money on curbing the “inequities” year-after-year-after-year, and it does little good, but our YWCA has a Racial Justice Director on its payroll!

Anyone not Black is berated for poor schools, where parents cannot keep their children in a classroom with a passing grade, or maybe those without a passing grade are graduated anyway. There is the problem in a nutshell. No education brings high-crime to neighborhoods. It’s about the parents and the family.

A debate is roiling in Tulsa and surrounding school districts over school vouchers. Public educators say they want a good education for all students, not just those who can afford a private education, but we don’t provide a good education for all public students. That’s the truth. I don’t blame the teachers for anything other than good teachers not insisting that bad teachers be removed from the classroom, and not telling the truth, loudly and often, about their problem students. We need to know what we are sure we already know: too many students are unruly, rude, uncooperative and unfocused. Where are the families? Where are the parents?

I feel desperate for these areas in my locale. I hate it that many good people live in these awful places and cannot make their way out, but how can you and I create responsible families? We cannot unless parents educate the next generation. We pay for counseling and therapy, and feed the children at our schools meals that should be provided at home. We donate our professional clothing so that single mothers can interview for jobs. We have domestic violence clinics and give homes to women and children who fear for their lives. Neighbors give-up on their Neighborhood Watches which are dangerous and sometimes unproductive, and someone lets the gangs fester. I know one thing: that ‘someone’ is not me or anyone else I know.

What does this have to do with Rick Santorum and his focus on the “Core” of America? Here’s his quote from last night:

The primary reason for the inequality comes down to welfare. Welfare susbidizes the breakup of families and this has created a system where children without husbands is desirable and profitable. The children from these dysfunctional families are poorly parented and most are doomed to failure. Welfare is the problem not the solution.

GoneWithTheWind, Yes, we are enslaving our poor with welfare, but we still have the problem of parental irresponsibility. In theory, you can have too many kids and still be responsible for them, even on welfare. It’s the mindset that some segments of society are not valued and so to hell with everything else. The excuse of racism intentionally keeping people “down,” it’s out-of-date and untruthful.